Tl;dr: 2 days in North Wales and lots of other work things.
For Monday 14th – Sunday 20th September 2026.
At work:
- Catchment project: I wrote up everything this week. EVERYTHING. I went through absolutely all my papers in the folder, all my notes, all the random thought scribbles, and I pulled together a summary report and a bunch of recommendations. And I did various smaller documents and bits too. Apart from the regular check-in meetings, I am close to done on this one.
- Strategy co-design project: providing the team with comms content and advance materials for meetings next week. I wanted to do loads more but I need a stretch of hours and a brain full of focus AND good wifi, so, it didn’t quite make it this week.
- Engagement coordination project: two big meetings in person in Wrexham, considering all sorts of strategic and operational questions. Much thinking and development are occurring, and discussions with awesome people who can make cool things happen.
- Workshop in North Wales: finished the prep and facilitated a half day workshop session in Llandudno, which went well, they were a lovely bunch to work with. Notes done and sent across.
Deliverables this week:
- Catchment project: summary report and recommendations, updated summary paper on stakeholder interviews, update paper on the engagement plan, project management status update against the original proposal. I wrote ALL THE THINGS. All of them.
- Workshop facilitation in Llandudno for one of the Regional Partnership Board working groups, and event report.
Development this week:
- Me and a freelancer colleague (um, a freelancer colleague and I) pulled together a project proposal this week in response to an interesting tender, here’s keeping fingers crossed that we get it. (We’d have to go to an interview in London first.)
- I had a dinner and plotting meeting with another work friend, about delivering a session on complexity and systems change to a cohort of students at Black Mountains College. I love talking about this stuff and designing sessions, and working with cool people, so this ticks all of my boxes.
At home:
- No pilates, but 3 HIIT this week on not my usual days, to get 3 sessions booked in around the 2 days of travelling to and from North Wales. A lovely swim on Sunday – the day was bright, high tide was early afternoon, and the sea was still summer-warm.
- Did my first Welsh class of the school year (I missed the actual first Welsh class last week). Was so good to be back with everyone! We have homework for next week which is describe your last holiday. This year there is also a student group chat, which is nice.
- The foster cats are doing ok. The calm little loaf is happy to sit on the window sills and snooze / ponder all day, but the adventure banana is going a bit stir-crazy from being cooped up indoors (as he’s usually on outdoor cat). He knocked over a plant pot with a water reservoir on Tuesday, the mix of soil and water I had to mop up was quite something. And then on Friday he launched himself at the monstera to climb the coconut fibre support – out of the corner of my eye I saw the plant quivering violently, then going over like TIMBERRRRRRRRRRR. The pot is smashed and he had a *big* scare! Never mind.
- I have not finished painting the lounge door (which only requires one last coat on 1 side). I’m going to keep putting it in this weeknotes section until it’s done.
- To be fair I worked all weekend because 1) deadlines and 2) not being able to do much on the train journeys to and from North Wales. (Oh how I yearn for good train wifi.) I really wanted to get things done and delivered so I thought I might take some time off instead next week… but it looks like I have plenty more things I want to get done and sent. So just *next* weekend probably, where I will go full goblin mode (no people) and potter at home. Maybe I’ll paint that door then? I shall report back.
- This wasn’t strictly speaking during the week I’m reporting on, as I currently write weeknotes on the Monday for the week just gone, but I am tiiiiired and going to call it a day and faffing about with unnecessary things. I just “wasted” half an hour looking up the email address of the skate club in the old tobacco factory in Marseille to send them this photo below. I only occasionally take pictures of people I don’t know – but I was just framing a shot of the graffiti when the door opened and as the guy was looking down at his phone he didn’t realise I was there and about to take the shot. I thought it looked great especially in black and white, and I have it in the digital photoframe carrousel at home. When it pops up I always think, I have here a photo of a guy who doesn’t know I have a photo of him, which is a bit weird. So today I emailed it over saying, I didn’t mean to take a picture of you but you opened the door just then and it looked cool so I thought you might like it.
- That is all for this week.
